Made of Marble Pt. 1 by Marble Mummy: A Brief-ish Album Review

[Once again, I am writing to a brick wall. The following review is for an album that you will not be able to find in stores or hear on the radio. This is simply me suggesting that you download this free music and check it out, because I did, and I felt obligated to write about it. So there.]

When I was in high school, I had a friend. We would drive through the rougher parts of Saginaw listening to [what we felt were] ironic songs, such as “It’s Raining Men” and “Rhinestone Cowboy”. Years later, I have learned that life is much more enjoyable when you pick the appropriate music to accompany your surroundings. Living in New York, your environments are constantly changing, and the music that you listen to should be changing with it. To take a really bad example, you listen to something upbeat while walking and something reminiscent when you’re staring out the window of a train. The inverses don’t work at all. You’d walk sluggishly and get restless on long commutes. This wouldn’t bide well for anybody.

About a couple of months ago, I stumbled upon a track that Slappy Slim [also known as M-Select of Guegel Geuw unfame] collaborated on with Matt G and Marble Mummy, of whom I had never heard of before. From what I was told, Marble Mummy is based out of Ypsilanti, and lives above the barber shop that Matt G works at. I didn’t even know Matt G was a barber. Beats the shit out of me. On a whim, I clicked on this link and downloaded the entire album. The album spans across 25 tracks, all of which are extremely varied. While I’ve been visiting it on and off ever since, there are a select few tracks that have really stuck with me.

The 4th track on the album, Northern Flights, strikes me in a way that not many songs are able to do. It has a tone that can only be described as both drifting and determined. It can basically set off a million emotions at once. Whenever I have to open the store, I always listen to this song while making my 5:30 morning walk to the train. There’s something about hearing this post/pre-apocalyptic melody while walking down a sleeping street, into the sunrise. I would also recommend listening to this song while driving to a place you haven’t seen before, or walking inside a giant blob of sleepwalkers.

Following immediately after that is Emeralds. One can easily assume that if I’m walking to the train during the previous track, then I am waiting for the train during this one. And yes. Yes I am waiting for the train. In fact, I have listened to this song while waiting for many trains. The song has a very cavernous beat, that meshes well with the dank atmosphere of a subway station. The trills mixed in occupy me enough to get me through the wait. The song itself is very patient and content in taking it’s time to unravel. In fact, this seems to be a general idea throughout the album. Most tracks are literally built from the ground up, which in some cases work, but in others become repetitive. Regardless, repetitiveness works for Emeralds but not so much for say, Tam-Blamk [which reminds me of those annoying sticks from the ’90s that you tilt, and they make a shitty noise]. I would also recommend listening to Emeralds while playing Sonic the Hedgehog, or any other 2d platformer.

Walking down Nostrand at dusk can be a really strange experience. It seems to be a time when people are at their craziest. Everyone stares at you, people getting in arguments, ambulances stuck in traffic, ect. It’s common for one to feel uneasy or tense. This can be easily remedied by any of the tracks featuring Matt G. I would recommend Matt G Wishes 4 Corned Beef Hash. This song works as a highlight for his lyrical style. Instead of freestyling, he improvises, if that makes any sense. [I’m not even sure if that’s a compliment or an insult] His rhyming is very spaced out, and at the time, it was like nothing I’ve heard before. [That was, until 4th of July, when I heard my neighbors blasting an extremely shitty Rick Ross song, in which he keeps on repeating “I’m MC Hammer”] . If you’re looking for nothing bust some good and friendly hip-hop, then I would also suggest Mr. Big Tuff.

Some other honorable mentions include Beatbox, which would be a perfect song if it wasn’t for a slightly disjointed chorus. Too Heavy is a fun spoken word song. C.D.S.T. is cool for riding buses. K.O.O.Y.O. almost scared me into a panic attack while walking through a tunnel in Prospect Park. The album is also chock-full of some pretty decent beats that function very well for background music at a party or book club meeting.

Made of Marble is an album that I can relate to. There are tracks on it that accentuate perfectly with my everyday surroundings. They have been imprinted into my daily routine. I never would have heard it if it wasn’t for that fact that it’s by a friend of a friend, but I feel like at this point, that’s kind of moot. When I say that you should give this album a chance, you should probably give this album a chance. It’s free, listen to a couple of tracks, see if you can enjoy any of it. I am confident that there is something here for everybody. So just click here and download it, goddamnit!